The Chicago Transit Authority will be able to move forward on major upgrades to one of the busiest stations in its transit system as a result of an infusion of $20 million in federal funding to the 95th Street Terminal Improvement Project. The intermodal project will reduce pedestrian and bus congestion, cut travel times, improve accessibility and create jobs on the South Side of the city.

Also awarded last week, a $10.4 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant to the state of Illinois will complete a $370 million funding package of 15 local projects in the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program.

The projects include new track and signal systems that will ease freight, Amtrak and Metra congestion and support 3,300 jobs throughout the six-county Chicago area. With the state leading the way with a $646 million investment, as well as a $20 million TIGER grant and other federal funds, the CTA is reconstructing the vital Red Line and 95th Street station. Plus, the $10.4 million TIGER grant to the state leverages a $360 million investment from the state and railways in the CREATE program.

The projected cost of the project is $240 million, $12 million from the TIGER grant, $80 million from a TIFIA loan, $70 million in Federal Formula Funds, $50 million in state of Illinois funding and $28 million from CTA bond sales. Work is expected to begin in 2014, after the Red Line South Track Renewal project is complete.

This is the latest announcement about CTA improvements in recent weeks, including the planned reconstruction of the southern end of the Red Line, which will begin in spring 2013.